General
The Giant Robot Theory of the Presidency
“[I]t fits with what I’ve been calling in my head The Giant Robot Theory of the Presidency (and, to some extent, some other offices, public and private). I suspect that occupying the white house is to no small extent a lot like climbing into the cockpit of a large and complex piece of anime mecha. [...]
Hermione Was Not Chosen
“Hermione is not Chosen. That’s the best thing about her. Hermione is a hero because she decides to be a hero; she’s brave, she’s principled, she works hard, and she never apologizes for the fact that her goal is to be very, extremely good at this whole “wizard” deal. Just as Hermione’s origins are nothing [...]
The Problem with CGI
“The other problem with CGI is that it’s too easy. Consider the original King Kong compared to the christawful 2005 remake. In the first film every frame of the ape required hours of labor working with delicate sets and models, which in turn required dozens of hours of work to make. It encouraged the filmmakers [...]
Mike Rowe Before the Senate Commerce Committee
“Right now, American manufacturing is struggling to fill 200,000 vacant positions. There are 450,000 openings in trades, transportation and utilities. The Skills Gap is real, and it’s getting wider. In Alabama, a third of all skilled tradesmen are over 55. They’re retiring fast, and no one is there to replace them. … In general, we’re [...]
How Steven Spielberg Cast Roy Scheider in ‘Jaws’
“But I was at a party at Andre Eastman’s house and I met Roy Scheider for the first time. He walked over to me and I was literally sitting on a couch with a Coca-Cola in my hand fretting over Jaws, that I wasn’t able to get this shark movie cast, and Roy sat down [...]
How Jacyee Spoke Out
How Jacyee Lee Dugard spoke out after 18 years of captivity: “[I]n August 2009, after Mr. Garrido had been brought in by parole officers for questioning after a campus officer at the University of California, Berkeley, had raised their suspicions. Ms. Dugard, who went with Mr. Garrido to the meeting, had been told to lie for [...]
From an Afghan Morgue
“So one day we get this 15 or 16 year old boy who had been hit by a truck and died in surgery in our hospital. We processed him like always and get the call that the family is ready to pick him up. … Turns out, that somewhere in the chain of the boy [...]
Desperately Seeking Sbarro
“Singing about S&M but yet the least sexy song/performance possible. I feel like we’re barely a year away from Rihanna just yapping about how she likes it in the ass, and will blow you all day long, but still making it look like she’s wandering lost at the mall, trying to find a Sbarro. ” [...]
Japanese Pensioners Team Up to Save the World
‘As the Japanese government and TEPCO struggle to bring the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control, a group of pensioners has decided to put their lives at risk to save younger people from radiation. It is becoming more difficult to find people willing to work in crippled plant “My acquaintances and I talked very [...]
Classical vs Practical
“Education, especially classical education that focuses on teaching how to think about problems, has always been a privilege, and to a certain extent the exclusive domain of the relatively rich. That hasn’t really changed, even though we often like to pretend otherwise.We saw a demand for education, and in turn for universities, because the economy [...]